Synopsis

A collection of classic films from famed British director, David Lean. 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' (1957) is a classic war film based on the novel by Pierre Boulle. A group of British POWs are forced to build a bridge in Burma for the Japanese. Led by Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) they not only build the bridge but organise the whole building programme and are proud of the final result. However, unbeknownst to the POWs, a British commando team has been given a mission to destroy it. 'Lawrence of Arabia' (1962) is a lush, Oscar-winning biopic starring Peter O'Toole as T.E. Lawrence, the Oxford-educated British army officer who aided the Arabs in their revolt against the Turks. Teaming up with Sherif Ali (Omar Sharif), Lawrence crosses a desert (considered uncrossable) in order to join two separate Arab tribes together as a single fighting force. Aiming to achieve Arab sovereignty, he wins a series of military victories but always keeps his eye on the larger picture, doing his best to prevent the subjection of the Arabs to British colonial rule. Finally, 'A Passage to India' (1984) stars Judy Davis as Miss Quested, a young English woman, recently arrived in India, who accuses the seemingly humble Dr Aziz (Victor Banerjee) of raping her during a trip to the Marabar caves. The subsequent trial lays bare the tensions which exist between the native population and the British colonialists, as well as the sexual repression which lurks under the surface of the polite society the British attempt to recreate on foreign soil.